Welcome to Texas justice: You might beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride.

Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Ring the bell for property threshold adjustments

Sometimes, an unrung bell resonates the loudest.

Such was the case last night when the Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee heard state Sen. Konni Burton's SB 393, which would adjust for inflation the main theft categories delineating punishment ranges in Texas, updating the code for the first time since 1993. Your correspondent was there to (briefly) testify in favor of the bill on behalf of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, but the legislation didn't need much help.

Remarkably, particularly given the contentious hearing early over changes to truancy statutes, there was no opposition to this bill - none, zilch, zero. No cops, no prosecutors, no probation officials, nobody. Just crickets chirping. Even the police unions stayed off. Despite the state's "tough on crime" reputation, not one citizen out of 25 million plus thought to come to the capitol to oppose this bill. Who'da thought?

Shannon Edmonds from the state prosecutors association testified "on" the bill, as is his wont, warning the committee against indexing the thresholds so they automatically update every year, which Sen. Charles Perry had passingly suggested. He said it would create too much confusion, particularly in older cases if the thresholds change through the course of the statute of limitations.

I'm more sanguine than Shannon about Texas prosecutors' ability to adjust to indexed property thresholds. Think of how many things hinge on Federal Poverty Levels, which are updated every year. Indexing property thresholds would be similar - the number would change annually and everybody would use the new one but also have a list of what they were from the previous years.

Regardless, that's not the bill on the table, which envisions only a one-time increase to account for inflation since 1993. The threshold from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony would rise from $1,500 to $2,500.

Sen. Joan Huffman entertained concern that the $2,500 threshold may be too high (though it's almost precisely where the inflation adjustment lands), but she voted for the bill in the end. Marc Levin of the Texas Public Policy Foundation attempted to reassure her by pointing out the enhancements for repeat misdemeanor offenders were still in place; this bill only changes the amounts.

This bill makes so much sense: The last time the Lege consciously considered what the thresholds should be was 1993 in response to recommendations from a statewide Punishment Standards Commission. Then-rookie Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire shepherded through the rewrite of the Penal Code, which as Edmonds pointed out would later be called a national model.

But over time, the sort of inflationary creep this bill attempts to mitigate expands the scope of government and
reduces the liberty of citizens sans any additional legislative mandate. Without adjusting for inflation, as I told the committee, every year Texans can become felons for stealing less and less stuff. That's not fair from an equal protection perspective and it's increasingly expensive: Half of state jail felons are incarcerated for property offenses, said Sen. Burton when laying out the bill. The fiscal note for the bill predicted a positive impact on the budget but declined to estimate an amount.

Burton's SB 393 has the greatest potential for reducing state level incarceration pressures of any bill heard so far this session - perhaps enough, even, for Texas to close more state jail facilities. And the silence of the opposition may be the legislation's most ringing endorsement.

They could do that, 6:40 (and fees have risen), but it wouldn't make nonpayment rates any lower. Higher fines on an indigent defendant generate no new revenue. But failing to adjust the thresholds creates tremendous additional incarceration costs.

The 2 into 1 needs a real change. Too often someone is convicted of theft for a small amount and unfortunately again down the road. Each time under $100 dollars. The third time they get accused of stealing a piece of bubble gum and are looking at 6 mons to 2 years in a SJF.

GfB Writer Bios

Subscribe by email

Support Grits via Donation

Donate to Grits via PayPal. Grits is a hobby, but donations help cover newspaper subscriptions, periodic travel, open records fees, etc.. Donate if you can! When I have resources, the blog can do more stuff!

"I always tell people interested in these issues that your blog is the most important news source, and have had high-ranking corrections officials tell me they read it regularly."

- Scott Medlock, Texas Civil Rights Project

"a helluva blog"

- Solomon Moore, NY Times criminal justice correspondent

"Congrats on building one of the most read and important blogs on a specific policy area that I've ever seen"

- Donald Lee, Texas Conference of Urban Counties

GFB "is a fact-packed, trustworthy reporter of the weirdness that makes up corrections and criminal law in the Lone Star State" and has "shown more naked emperors than Hans Christian Andersen ever did."

-Attorney Bob Mabry, Conroe

"Grits really shows the potential of a single-state focused criminal law blog"

- Corey Yung, Sex Crimes Blog

"I regard Grits for Breakfast as one of the most welcome and helpful vehicles we elected officials have for understanding the problems and their solutions."

Tommy Adkisson,Bexar County Commissioner

"dude really has a pragmatic approach to crime fighting, almost like he’s some kind of statistics superhero"

- Rob Patterson, The Austin Post"Scott Henson's 'Grits for Breakfast' is one of the most insightful blogs on criminal justice issues in Texas."

- Texas Public Policy Foundation

"Nobody does it better or works harder getting it right"

David Jennings, aka "Big Jolly"

"I appreciate the fact that you obviously try to see both sides of an issue, regardless of which side you end up supporting."

Kim Vickers,Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and EducationGrits for Breakfast "has probably broken more criminal justice stories than any TX reporter, but stays under the radar. Fascinating guy."

Maurice Chammah,The Marshall Project"unrestrained and uneducated"

John Bradley,Former Williamson County District Attorney, now former Attorney General of Palau

"our favorite blog"

- Texas District and County Attorneys Association Twitter feed"Scott Henson ... writes his terrific blog Grits for Breakfast from an outhouse in Texas."